Looking back on a plethora of inaugural bottlings from all these new distilleries in recent years has Gilbert realising it’s hard to keep up. This time it’s Jackton’s turn with their RAER Inaugural.

When times are tougher and the purse strings are pulled tighter on the whisky budget, Drummond is pleased to benefit a little from the Dramface Deflection System. Six from Adelphi in the hopper today!

In Charlie’s distillery deep-dives and comparisons, the indies have always won out. However, could a naturally coloured official Glenrothes turn that around? He tries two of them alongside two Cadenhead’s releases..

Ogilvie leads as he, Archie and Eallair team up on a duo of special releases from Nc’Nean. Supplied through Nick, each of them have a go at Edition 4 ‘ Lemon Meadow’ and 5 “Malted Teacake”.

It turns out Murdo is an anxious traveller. He reaches for a pre-flight dram - one that he hoped would be a nice replacement for his loved Glendronach 15yo. Did the Tamdhu 15yo do the trick?

In railing against the addition of colour and chill-filtering, Mason is tripped up by a bargain-basement Glen Moray Classic. He’s forced to apply some pragmatism and just appreciate what it is.

Mason has been ‘ enjoying’ his recent hiatus from alcohol. This year has been longer than most due to Europe’s ‘heat dome’ of 2026, which has had him reach for this Eagle Rare 10yo upon return.

In another of Charlies series, he looks at the exact opposite of Diageo’s so-called ‘workhorse’ distilleries. This time it’s the tiny Royal Lochnagar, a rare thing indeed, and finding an indy proves tricky.

Once in a store, Ogilvie heartily recommended this Jack Daniels Barrel Proof to an acquaintance. When he returns to a bottle three years later, he realises some things change, if fact sometimes everything does.

Broddy gathers seven bottles of SMOS Reserve Cask Small Batch releases in a single mega review. He justifies his scoring for each while dropping a bombshell of heresy about oatcakes.

Charlie continues his deep dive into new distilleries (to him), this time uncovering the two ‘Glens’ of Ord and ‘Dullan, then comparing two Special releases to indies from James Eadie and the Thompson Bros.

In a hurry to get to funner places, Wally phoned one in. This time it’s a limited edition Macallan, and there’s nothing - yet somehow everything - wrong with it.

Charlie picks up three blends from the past - his own past - and dips in to see what he was missing. A Chivas Regal 12yo from the 1970s alongside an old Johnnie Walker Swing and a 1980s Teachers.

A stranger to Glenlossie until 2025, Charlie uncovered one of Diageo’s ‘blend houses’ in a Cadenhead’s tasting. Typically for him, a pleasant experience and a bottle purchase finds him exploring and comparing.

In the first of his series of “Official vs Indy” reviews, Charlie tees up one of our most evocative comparisons: Clynelish. The question is, will he uncover any of the W-word?

There aren’t many Irish whiskeys (or whiskies!) showing up in Murdo’s market, but he finds a Marsala Cask from Boann and pulls the trigger. Is it worth it? Is it any more transparent? Is it whisky or whiskey?

Three of the team hark back to Christmas vibes as they each, independently, happen upon a Signatory 100º Proof Exceptional Cask Glentauchers. As is typical with Dramface, it divides opinion.

In order to calm the tensions of travel, Archie once enjoyed an airport beer. These days, however, he’s moved up a few levels: Planedrams. In his Plaincairn on this trip he revisits an old faithful Glenfarclas 12yo.

Feeling the crunch on his finances, Mason gets introspective. Facing over-accumulation, he naively attempts a slow down and a clear out of languishing bottles & revisits a Cadenhead’s 11yo Garioch.

After nearly smashing this bottle of Annandale before the photo shoot, Fletcher recalls the times he’s lost whiskies through packing fails and baggage handling fails. He also wants to know why this malt is such a positioning fail.